CCS Newsletter
November 17, 2017
ADMINISTRATION UPDATE
Dear CCS Friends and Families,
There is much to celebrate this week! Along with our everyday learning, our CCS students and staff have been connecting with one another and with our community in both fun and supportive ways.
On Tuesday, CCS welcomed David Gonzalez, a singer/storyteller/performer. David presented Cuentos: Tales from the Latino World - sharing stories from his Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage. David’s stories and songs were rich with humor, cultural and moral lessons and the Spanish language. We were happy that our young friends from the Charlotte Children’s Center were able to join us for Cuentos, along with many CCS parents and members of the Charlotte community. CCS was able to bring David to our school through a PTO grant requested by school counselor Vicki Nelson. If you would like to learn more about David Gonzalez or to share more of his work with your children, check out his website: http://www.davidgonzalez.com/.
CCS is proud to be collaborating with our local agencies to take care of our immediate and greater community. Such opportunities allow us to expand upon our school-wide behavior expectations of Take Care of Ourselves, Take Care of Each Other and Take Care of this Place. Our K-4 classes have collected items and worked in Art class to create large baskets of food for the Charlotte Food Shelf. Baskets were organized and delivered to our lobby by student volunteers to be picked up for the Food Shelf on Friday. Also on Friday, CCS will welcome a representative from the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), who will present our school with their Youth Hero Award for our contribution from the CCS Be The Change PBIS reward system to COTS last year.
We wish all of our students, families and community members a very Happy Thanksgiving. Our students and staff have worked hard all fall and deserve a week of rest and relaxation! We are thankful for the daily opportunities to work with such wonderful people.
Kind regards,
Stephanie, Jen and Cassandra
PHOTOS FROM CUENTOS ASSEMBLY
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Friday, November 17th
Q & A with the Principals, Main Office Conference Room, 7:30 to 8:00
Lost & Found packed up and donated
Monday November 20th through Friday, November 24th
NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break
Tuesday, November28th
Early Dismissal, 1:55pm
Wednesday, November 29th
Field Trip - Architects to Shelburne Farms, 9:00am to 2:00pm
Friday, December 1st
Trimester 1 Ends
Movie Night, MPR, 5:30 - 7:30 - Here's what's playing!
Saturday, December 2nd
CCS Holiday Market, MPR, 10:00am to 2:00pm
Tuesday, December 5th
Early Dismissal, 1:55pm
CVSD Board Budget Meeting, CCS Library, 6:00pm
Friday, December 8th
Staff Appreciation Luncheon, Staff Room, 11:00 - 1:00
Tuesday, December 12th
Early Dismissal, 1:55pm
Thursday, December 14th
7/8 Winter School Assembly, MPR 1:45pm
7/8 Winter Concert, MPR, 7:00pm
Tuesday, December 19th
Early Dismissal, 1:55pm
Wednesday, December 20th
Q & A with the Principals, 2:00pm - 2:30pm
Monday, December 25th - Tuesday, January 2nd
NO SCHOOL - HOLIDAY BREAK
LOST AND FOUND IS OVERFLOWING
WORLD LANGUAGE UPDATE
MUSIC NEWS
Mark your calendar for the 7/8 Winter Concert to be held on Thursday, December 14, 2017 in the MPR at CCS. This concert will feature the chorus, band, concert choir, stage band and ukulele band. The show begins at 7 PM. Performers should arrive by 6:30 PM. Performers should wear black and white. The concert is free and open to the public. We hope to see you there!
Congratulations to many CCS musicians for successfully auditioning into the District III Music Festival to be held in February. The chorus representatives will be Innogen Naylor and Ben Fox. The orchestra will include Jasmin Tonwsend-Ng and the band will feature Heidi Beal, Isabella Hackerman, Neika Haire, Finnegan Mittlestadt, and Molly Milne-Gerlaugh.
Keep your eyes on the newsletter for more exciting musical events!
MOVIE NIGHT AT CCS - FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1ST
WHAT IS PROFICIENCY OR STANDARDS-BASED LEARNING?
The terms Standards Based and Proficiency Based are used quite interchangeably. Whether we are helping students reach the standard, or becoming proficient in the standard we are assessing, the idea is that learning is a continuum and we need to support and encourage students on their academic journey.
One way to think about PBL is through the metaphor of a Global Positioning System (GPS). Our goal as educators is to help students reach their destinations—the standards. We do this by clearly articulating what students need to know, understand, and do to become proficient in a learning standard. Educators design Learning Targets for their classes aligned with national, state, and local standards. These targets clearly articulate what students should know, understand, and be able to do for each unit of study. The targets are like the “destinations” in a GPS. We decide where we want to go, and we enter the location—we need to be specific about our destinations in order to get the best directions. Teachers, students, and parents are aware of the destinations, so there is no mystery about where we are headed. Below is an example of Humanities learning target for 5th and 6th grade.
This is a 5th and 6th grade learning scale for making a claim. The proficient level is highlighted.
- I can make a statement about my topic.
- I can make a statement about details of my topic.
- I can make a claim that connects my topic to a relevant big idea.
- I can make a detailed, relevant connection based on my relevant big idea.
Within a unit of study, students are able to clearly see their learning destination. Students self-assess, and the teacher also assesses the student work. The assessments then inform the next steps for a student’s instruction.
COMING SOON - 5th-8th GRADE PROFICIENCY BASED REPORT CARDS
Over the next month, all four Champlain Valley School District K-8 schools, including Charlotte, will be sending home common proficiency based report cards for middle school students. Throughout Vermont, all schools and districts are moving towards proficiency based learning which is often referred to as PBL. The Vermont Agency of Education recently released this seven minute video entitled "What's the Deal with Proficiency Based Learning?" (Here is the link: https://tinyurl.com/yanzbn4e). For those of you who would like to know a bit more about the work that is occurring throughout the district, we think this resource provides a nice foundation for understanding PBL. If you have any difficulties it can also be found by searching the title on youtube. Our belief is that this will help provide a clear understanding of how PBL instruction and reporting is working in our classrooms. In the coming weeks we will share a few more resources in our weekly newsletter.
CCS HOLIDAY MARKET
CHARLOTTE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Check out our website.